Cows in the Yard?
Brits have a screwy perception when it comes to imagining a typical home in Texas
Back in the '80s before Al Gore invented the internet, we knew that the Brits based much of their image of Texas on theDallas television series. But today one would think that with Houston as the fourth, soon to be third, largest city in the country, and with Austin's high-flying tech industry, reality might have caught up with illusion. Not so much.
According to real estate portal Homes.com, the British Empire has saddled the Lone Star State with a rather shabby image. Basically we live on run-down farms, have cows in the yard, drive gas-guzzling SUVs, own lots of guns and wear cowboy hats. Hold on there, Nellie. The last three are spot on. But Brits failed to understand that we are tech savvy, suggesting that Texans have very little technology advancements in our homes.
"Texas is a dichotomy, so it's tough to fault the Brits for thinking everyone lives on a ramshackle ranch surrounded by cows," Grant Simmons, Homes.com veep of Search Marketing, said in a statement. "In fact, the larger cities are thriving tech hubs, where homes vary from giant ranches close to Dallas and Houston to less grand areas of most of Texas' metro areas."
Homes.com asked survey respondents to visualize the furnishings and the level of technology found not only in Texas homes but also in the U.S. in general as well as specifically in New York, Las Vegas, Silicon Valley and Florida.
According to the report, the survey revealed that many Brits believe that American homes "are filled with items such as porch swings, George Foreman grills, waffle makers and, of course, guns."
You can see the full report here.